01Jul
Before I had Bean, I would hear moms talking about how much their young children talked. They’d say things like, “…And then little Johnny said he wanted to eat Goldfish for dinner! Can you imagine?!?! GOLDFISH for dinner?!?!”
Actually, yes, I could imagine Goldfish for dinner (and might have even served that exact meal to Bean once or twice when nothing else would suffice…). What I could not imagine was this babbling one-year-old kid saying sentences. Parents seemed to talk about their kids like they were prodigies – talking constantly! – but when I’d meet the kid…let’s just say “child prodigy” wasn’t the term that came to mind.
(That’s an envelope on his head, in case you were wondering.)
Now that I have Bean though, I’m starting to understand what that was all about.
Parents hear things that their kids say before anyone else understands them. I think that’s what keeps our children around until they turn 18 really. They need us to translate. What sounds like senseless babble to the untrained ear sounds like complete sentences of brilliance to a parent.
Let’s take Bean as an example. When Bean says, “Mo’!” There are several different options as to what he is saying.
Mooooooooo: (most frequently used)  It means “more.” That’s what he says when he is hungry.
Momo: That’s me. Momma.
Mo: That would be NEmo. As in Finding Nemo, his favorite movie.
Moooan: That’s “mine.” This one is new. We’re not sure where he learned possession from, but he definitely knows what it means.
Bean has other words that you probably wouldn’t recognize unless you birthed him. Such as…
Baaaa – Bath
Waaa – Water
Nooooo – No (okay, so that one’s pretty obvious)
Booo – Book
Beah (pronounced “Beeeyah,” like he’s from New Jersey) – Mr. Bear
Baw – Ball
Ooonn (pronounced “ewn”) – Balloon
Awgaaa – All gone
Doooonnn – All done
Lewww – Lucy
Mowww – Molly
Rooooo – Roll ‘em up, always with hand movements (from Patty Cake; not sure why he chose this one phrase)
There. Now you all know another language. Bean Speak. We’ll have a pop quiz on this later this week. I hope you’re taking notes…
1) Miss M!: In the thumbnail for this post, I totally thought Bean had a bra on his head! My friend put it best - all of a sudden one day, you realize that you're fluent in "toddler." (07.01.2010 09:24am)
2) Katy @ MonsterProof: Apparently my Maid of Honor's family let her continue with one of her words. She's Vietnamese, and until about college thought that a word she was saying was a Vietnamese word. But, no, her family just never told her it was her own language. (07.01.2010 09:26am)
3) Tabitha (From Single to Married): that's so true - Parents hear and understand way before anyone else does! I can hardly wait until I hear my little one say his first word. :) (07.01.2010 09:35am)
4) Jen at Cabin Fever: Too cute! I love baby talk. And you are so right. I feel like I can never understand people's babies. What bothers me is when a mother looks irritated that you can't figure out what their child wants. Glad you seem to know that its Greek to the rest of us! :) Cabin Fever in Vermont (07.01.2010 09:43am)
5) Summer B R: I love this post! E's still my little late bloomer. His vocab consits of dada, dow (dog), Dowww (down), uh-oh, uhh(up), and my ultimate favorite: NO-NO (complete with finger shake). I cant wait for him to figure out more words.....its still a crap shoot for me trying to figure out what this kid wants ;) (07.01.2010 11:57am)
6) elizabeth: glad you explained the 'envelope' on his head...cause my 2nd born son used to 'love' to wear my bras on his head (...ummm...yeah...weird.....!!!!.lol)...and i wondered if it had become a trend?..lol i wrote down the words the kids used for their first attemtps..some were quite funny...glad BEAN will have this blog for his memories. thanks for the laughs..as always! ♥ (07.01.2010 12:16pm)
7) Maggie: This made me smile! I love baby speak - though I can never understand it. My hubby is a speech therapist so I always make sure he comes along if I'm doing a photo sessions with someone under the age of 4, he's used to garbled speech and is fluent in toddler. It eliminates me peering over my camera shouting, "You want WHAT?!! Who?! Does anyone know what he is saying?! Anyone?!" (07.01.2010 12:18pm)
8) Nate's Mom: He's a brilliant boy! Nate says Booh, which means "book." Aaaaand....that's it. For some reason, he wandered around 2 days ago making the S sound. We're pretty sure that once he starts talking, it will be in complete sentences and we'll have never wished for him to start yammering.... LOVE the video - can't believe how he does the wee dances! (07.01.2010 12:20pm)
9) Tressa: Cute cute cute!! Beanie is way to precious in that bath video! (07.01.2010 03:44pm)
10) Emily: I love this post! Little kid words and mannerisms are just the cutest things. It's too bad there isn't a blog universe where everyone lives in the same neighborhood, or you'd never have to worry again about finding someone to watch Bean. I'm sure all your readers would gladly take him. (07.01.2010 06:20pm)
11) Cindy In Owensboro, KY: I totally would understand Bean because he says some of the same things as Riley plus she is saying a little more since she is 20 months old. Her first few words were "da da" for thank you and "peece" for please and I was a little worried because I didn't feel like she was saying as much as my son did at her age. But I guess that's how it goes when you are the youngest of 4. Now that Riley is getting closer to 2 years old I am amazed some days when she says a new word. Right now it is "WA- ter" for water and "BUT- ter" for peanut butter. (07.01.2010 07:38pm)
12) Lori @ I Can Grow People: He definitely has a bigger vocabulary than Porter at this point. Porter has "ow" for out, "ba" for ball, "uh" for up, "uh-oh" for uh-oh of course, and then "dada" and "da-dee" for Aaron (why he is cool enough for two names I will never know.) I do get "mama" but not nearly enough! (07.02.2010 10:11am)
13) Mindee@ourfrontdoor: I think it's pretty obvious that he's gifted. (07.03.2010 09:28am)
14) Megan: I'm certain that if Bean and Q-Tip were in the same class they would tie for Valedictorian. :-) Megan http://reddirtandcrazy.blogspot.com/ (07.05.2010 03:19pm)
15) jen morris: I'm confident I could not have a conversation with your Bean and know what he is saying! It's funny we know exactly what our kids are saying. Even down to their little grunts and whines...not that my kid whines. Not at all! (07.06.2010 10:01am)
16) memyselfandi: My parents always needed me to translate whatever my little brother was saying. I think it's because we're pretty close in age. Or maybe because I was fascinated by his loud, smelly, adorable self. (07.09.2010 12:33am)
17) kerry: Fun post! It's so true...I still have to translate from time to time with my nearly 2.5 year old. In the early speech days, I remember how the exact same syllable was many different things depending on context and inflection. I think "ba" was our most overused "word." It meant baby, bottle, ball, and really anything starting with b. (07.28.2010 11:47pm)